


Crap Luck

by RunawayDragons



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Commander Zila Shepard - Freeform, Gen, Mako - Freeform, thresher maw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-14 06:29:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5732983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunawayDragons/pseuds/RunawayDragons
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Inspired by a real conversation between my husband and I. I was refusing to drive across open areas to reach the points I needed to get to in the mako while playing Mass Effect. He called me paranoid. I got angry and drove across the large open space, and well, my cautious behavior was proven to be reasonable.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Crap Luck

Crammed in the Mako, Commander Zila Shepard, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko, and Garrus Vakarian drive across a rocky ridge, on a pleasant looking, but toxic planet. Zila has already forgotten the name of it, her focus entirely on driving the large tank, careful not to let it slide down towards the flat plain below. She can feel Kaidan rolling his eyes behind her back, she’d heard him talking with Ashley about her tendency to avoid driving across any large open areas when exploring unfamiliar worlds. Hell, she’d heard most of the crew joke about her driving, most of the time she shrugged it off, because as much as they complained, nobody offered to drive the awkward armored vehicle in her place. Many people hated the Mako, calling it unwieldy at best. Not Shepard though, more than one Mako had saved her life, plus she knew them inside and out, and could easily repair one in the field if need be. 

“You know, Commander, where we need to go is right across there. We could get there a lot faster if we took the shorter route.” Kaidan’s tone is very neutral, but she knows he is just trying to hide his irritation that her way is taking forever, as well as rattling their brains around in their skulls. 

She hesitates before answering, composing herself, “I prefer to avoid being out in the open unless I absolutely have to, Lieutenant.” As she finishes speaking she glances over her shoulder to make eye contact, and gauge his reaction. 

Kaidan shifts in his seat, antsy to be out of the Mako, and doing something. Garrus, who is sitting to her right doesn’t look comfortable either, but he is keeping his mouth shut, and eyes firmly ahead. Smart. After five more minutes of awkward silence, the tension between the commanding officer and the lieutenant is thick enough that Garrus is subtly checking to make sure he can get to the escape hatch if needed.

And then, Kaidan breathes out just hard enough to qualify as a sigh. Shepard cuts the wheel and puts her foot down, muttering “Fine” in a distinctly frustrated tone, as she sends the mako hurtling down the hill and onto the open plain below. Kaidan tries not to look pleased, while Garrus intently studies his hands after seeing Shepard’s eyes glowing with anger.  
Suddenly, the ground begins to shake right as they are almost a third of the way across. Shepard roars out one expletive after another as she makes evasive maneuvers to avoid the eruption of soil that precedes the sight of a massive thresher maw right in front of them. Garrus immediately mans the Mako’s turret and begins firing on the monster pursuing them, while Shepard does her best to give him good openings while avoiding being crushed or drowned in acid. It takes half an hour to kill the beast, the whole inside of the tank reeking of adrenaline, sweat, and burning armor plating. Shepard finds a safe piece of high ground to park on before climbing out to assess the damage. Her squad climbs out after her, they work quickly to make the repairs needed, then get back inside before the toxic spores in the planet’s air overwhelms their suits. 

“I’m sorry, Shepard.” Kaidan says with genuine sincerity, once they’re safely back inside. As his words end, a tense silence ensues, Shepard seeming to have not heard him while typing on her omnitool. She finishes what she was doing, then turns in her seat to stare at him.

“Paranoid! You called me paranoid, and if that wasn’t bad enough, it insinuates that you don’t trust my judgement.” Cold anger suffuses every word.  
Kaidan’s expression turns to horror as he realizes she’d overheard him talking with Ash the other day, he’d wondered why Shepard hadn’t been stopping by to chat with him recently, and now he knows. 

“I’m sorry, I really am. It’s just, if you look at it from our point of view…” Kaidan backpeddles, but isn’t allowed to finish his sentence, as the Commander cuts him off. 

“If you, really, were sorry, you wouldn’t be making excuses. Do you see this?” Shepard asks, then points at the list glowing on her omnitool, before continuing speaking, “This is a list of the last nineteen planets we’ve landed on, and out of those, I have encountered nine thresher maws, now this one makes ten out of twenty. Ten thresher maws, Kaidan. Ten.”

Garrus coughs quietly and does his best to just blend into the background, somewhat glad he wasn’t overheard talking with Tali about the Commander’s driving. 

Kaidan stares hard at her list, unbelieving, “Well, I’m sorry, but can you really blame me? What are the odds of running into that many maws, Shepard?”  
Rather than make her calm down at all, this just seems to anger her more, as is evident by her angry retort. 

“Don’t even talk to me about odds, Kaidan Alenko. Have we not met? Do you not know my history of having the most shit luck in the fracking galaxy? I do my best to be prepared for anything, it is how I survive. If you don’t like that, then you can stay on the gods-damned ship.”

Her words are uttered with finality, which leads to the rest of the time spent in the mako after that being tense and silent, the air thick enough to make the small cabin feel even more claustrophobic. They finish what they need to do on the planet, and then get extracted safely back to the Normandy. 

Kaidan avoids the Commander for a day, feeling stupid and remorseful. Especially as he realizes how much he has come to like the Commander, as a friend, and in a personal way. Their chats off duty had become increasingly flirtatious, and up to now, been the bright spot in his day. So, the following evening he knocks on the door of her cabin. She opens it to find him holding a couple of beers from his private stash, and a bag of chips with a note taped to them that says “Please forgive me for being an ass.”

She stares at him hard for a moment, takes the offerings, and right before she turns away, says “Fine, you’re forgiven.” The door shuts behind her, leaving him slightly confused, but feeling somewhat better. The next day she stops and talks to him for a moment before going to talk with Dr. Chakwas. She even smiles at him. Maybe, when they’re done with the mission on Virmire, she insinuates that they could go out for dinner when they get back to the citadel. His response to that suggestion leaves her smiling, and hopeful for the first time in a while.

**Author's Note:**

> *SPOILER ALERT*
> 
> Kaidan dies at Virmire. Because this was Zila's PS3 playthrough, and Ash was the one to die on the XBOX360. Plus, it is Zila/Garrus on both platforms. Poor Kaidan, never stood a chance.
> 
> Also, I swear I had to fight more thresher maws in this damn playthrough... It was a crazy amount. THEY WERE EVERYWHERE. And never knowing when one of those behemoths was gonna rear up wasn't good for my anxiety. :/


End file.
